Communication controller and method for transmitting data

ABSTRACT

A communication controller is described comprising a determiner configured to determine, for each communication connection of a set of communication connections between a communication device and another communication device, a characteristic of the communication connection, a selector configured to select a plurality of the communication connections based on the characteristics of the communication connections and a controller configured to control a transmission of data between the communication device and the other communication device to use the selected plurality of communication connections.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to communication controllers and methodsfor transmitting data.

BACKGROUND

Future mobile communication terminals such as smartphones can beexpected to be able to operate communication links according todifferent radio access technologies (RATs) at the same time, e.g. acommunication link based on WiFi in parallel to a communication linkbased on LTE. Efficient approaches to make use of such parallelcommunication links are desirable.

SUMMARY

A communication controller is provided including a determiner configuredto determine, for each communication connection of a set ofcommunication connections between a communication device and anothercommunication device, a characteristic of the communication connection,a selector configured to select a plurality of the communicationconnections based on the characteristics of the communicationconnections and a controller configured to control a transmission ofdata between the communication device and the other communication deviceto use the selected plurality of communication connections.

Further, a method for transmitting data according to the abovecommunication controller is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarilyto scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating theprinciples of the invention. In the following description, variousaspects are described with reference to the following drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows communication systems.

FIG. 2 shows a communication controller.

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data.

FIG. 4 shows a communication arrangement including a multi-linkmanagement entity.

FIG. 5 shows a communication arrangement including a gateway arrangedbetween a private IP sub-net and the Internet.

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram illustrating an interaction for informationprovision on IP sub-nets.

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram illustrating mobile device centric linkselection.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram illustrating network/server centric linkselection.

FIG. 9 shows a message flow diagram illustrating the setting up of atransmission of service data using a plurality of communication links.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 show examples for the messages exchanged accordingto the message flow diagram shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 12 shows an example for a web-Interface for adding a number of IPlinks to be used for provision of service data.

DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawingsthat show, by way of illustration, specific details and aspects of thisdisclosure in which the invention may be practiced. These aspects ofthis disclosure are described in sufficient detail to enable thoseskilled in the art to practice the invention. Other aspects of thisdisclosure may be utilized and structural, logical, and electricalchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.The various aspects of this disclosure are not necessarily mutuallyexclusive, as some aspects of this disclosure can be combined with oneor more other aspects of this disclosure to form new aspects.

It can be expected that future mobile devices (e.g. mobile terminalssuch as smartphones) will operate a multitude of heterogeneous RadioAccess Technologies (RATs) simultaneously, such as WiFi, 3GPP LTE (3rdGeneration Partnership Project Long Term Evolution), TV White SpaceCommunication (IEEE 802.11af), Bluetooth, Digital Radio, GPS (GlobalPositioning System), etc. In order to obtain the best Quality of Service(QoS) possible for the user of a mobile device, it can be expected thata mobile device may jointly and simultaneously use a number of distinctheterogeneous RATs, which leads to an aggregation of all radio resourcesavailable to a user.

In the present description, a radio access technology may for examplerefer to any one of the following: A cellular wide area radiocommunication technology (which may include e.g. a Global System forMobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, a GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, an EnhancedData Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology,and/or a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communicationtechnology (e.g. UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), FOMA(Freedom of Multimedia Access), 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution), 3GPP LTEAdvanced (Long Term Evolution Advanced)), CDMA2000 (Code divisionmultiple access 2000), CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data), Mobitex, 3G(Third Generation), CSD (Circuit Switched Data), HSCSD (High-SpeedCircuit-Switched Data), UMTS (3G) (Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (Third Generation)), W-CDMA (UMTS) (Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)), HSPA(High Speed Packet Access), HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access),HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access), HSPA+(High Speed Packet AccessPlus), UMTS-TDD (Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem—Time-Division Duplex), TD-CDMA (Time Division—Code DivisionMultiple Access), TD-CDMA (Time Division—Synchronous Code DivisionMultiple Access), 3GPP Rel. 8 (Pre-4G) (3rd Generation PartnershipProject Release 8 (Pre-4th Generation)), 3GPP Rel. 9 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 9), 3GPP Rel. 10 (3rd Generation PartnershipProject Release 10), 3GPP Rel. 11 (3rd Generation Partnership ProjectRelease 11), 3GPP Rel. 12 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release12), UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access), E-UTRA (Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access), LTE Advanced (4G) (Long Term EvolutionAdvanced (4th Generation)), cdmaOne (2G), CDMA2000 (3G) (Code divisionmultiple access 2000 (Third generation)), EV-DO (Evolution-DataOptimized or Evolution-Data Only), AMPS (1G) (Advanced Mobile PhoneSystem (1st Generation)), TACS/ETACS (Total Access CommunicationSystem/Extended Total Access Communication System), D-AMPS (2G) (DigitalAMPS (2nd Generation)), PTT (Push-to-talk), MTS (Mobile TelephoneSystem), IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone System), AMTS (Advanced MobileTelephone System), OLT (Norwegian for Offentlig Landmobil Telefoni,Public Land Mobile Telephony), MTD (Swedish abbreviation forMobiltelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D), Autotel/PALM(Public Automated Land Mobile), ARP (Finnish for Autoradiopuhelin, “carradio phone”), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony), Hicap (High capacityversion ofNTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone)), CDPD (Cellular DigitalPacket Data), Mobitex, DataTAC, iDEN (Integrated Digital EnhancedNetwork), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), CSD (Circuit Switched Data),PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), WiDEN (Wideband Integrated DigitalEnhanced Network), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA, also referredto as also referred to as 3GPP Generic Access Network, or GANstandard)).

The simultaneous usage of multiple routes in a network is referred to asmultipath routing. The efficient exploitation of multiple routes byapplying a coding scheme tailored to the presence of multiple routes isreferred to as network coding. These approaches typically apply tofixed, cabled networks.

Simultaneous usage of multiple links in a wireless mobile device may forexample be applied in the following contexts:

-   -   Simultaneous operation of two independent services, e.g. a voice        call is operated via 3GPP UMTS (Universal Mobile        Telecommunications System) while a Bluetooth connection is        active to a Bluetooth headset ensuring a wireless link to the        mobile device;    -   Simultaneous operation of two distinct RATs for Vertical        Handover, e.g. 2G (second generation) and HS×PA (Highspeed        Uplink/Downlink Packet Access) are operated simultaneously        during a handover phase from 2G to HS×PA in order to ensure        service continuity for the mobile device user.    -   IFOM (IP Flow Mobility): Simultaneous connection via WLAN        (Wireless Local Area Network) and 3G (Third Generation) and        switching IP (Internet Protocol) flows between these two RATs.        This for example involves        -   Seamless mobility of IP flows between 3G and WLAN by using            Mobile IP (DSMIPv6)        -   Network support to find a usable non-3GPP access network            (e.g. providing Discovery Information), e.g. based on            parameters such as Network-IDs (SSID, TAC, . . . ), Location            of AP (Access Point), Coverage-Radius, . . . .        -   Operator controlled RAT preferences (ISRP), e.g. to            determine which of currently connected access networks            should be used for a certain service/IP flow, e.g. based on            IP-Address and port number or based on selected Service            (APN)

3GPP technologies such as IFOM provide a technological basis for thespecific case of maintaining WiFi and 3GPP simultaneously and formanaging corresponding handovers.

Further, it may for example be supported that a number of heterogeneousRATs are jointly used for accessing a single service, such as videostreaming, etc. The principle is illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows communication systems 101, 102.

In the first communication system 101, which may be seen as theconventional or legacy approach, a mobile device access an IP network(such as the Internet or a private IP sub-net) 103 via a single radiolink 104 and requests and receives data from a server 105 connected tothe IP network 103.

In the second communication system 102, which may be seen as a multicommmulti-link or multi-RAT approach, a mobile device 106 has a plurality ofradio links 107 to a plurality of IP networks 108 and requests andreceives data from a server 109 jointly via the radio links 107. Theradio links 107 for example correspond to different communicationconnections, e.g. different IP connections.

A challenge for a multicomm multi-link multi-RAT approach may be seen inhow to efficiently split data transmission of a single service (e.g.video streaming) over a multitude of RATs being operated simultaneously.This may for example involve techniques for:

-   -   Efficiently selecting the RAT combination at the time upon        demand, e.g., at the connection set-up and splitting the        decision making process over network/target and mobile device        entities.    -   Efficiently triggering/performing a multi-RAT handover in case        that the context of the mobile device 106 changes (e.g. the        mobile device moves and loses coverage of WiFi or similar) and        splitting the decision making process over network/server and        mobile device entities.

A communication controller 200 that may be used to provide a multicommmulti-link/multi-RAT communication is described in the following withreference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows a communication controller 200.

The communication controller 200 includes a determiner 201 configured todetermine, for each communication connection of a set of communicationconnections between a communication device and another communicationdevice, a characteristic of the communication connection.

The communication controller 200 further includes a selector 202configured to select a plurality of the communication connections (i.e.two or more communication connections) based on the characteristics ofthe communication connections.

Further, the communication controller 200 includes a controller (e.g. asignaling circuit or a processing circuit) 203 configured to control atransmission of data between the communication device and the othercommunication device to use the selected plurality of communicationconnections.

In other words, a communication controller (which may be located on theterminal side or to the network side) selects a plurality ofcommunication connections to be used (e.g. for a multicommmulti-link/multi RAT approach) based on characteristics of thecommunication connections. Using the selected plurality of communicationconnections may be understood as using all of the communciationconnection of the plurality of communication connections for datatransportation, e.g. over each of the communication connections, a partof the data to be transmitted in the data communication is transmitted.For example, this may mean that the communcation connections are notmerely active but are used for actual data transmission.

For example, in contrast to a multi-link solution such as IP FlowMobility (IFOM) in 3GPP or a fixed split of a single video transmissionover two different RATs the communication controller considers how toefficiently split a single service over a multitude of simultaneouslyoperated wireless links, e.g. combined with a dynamic adaptation of theselected technologies. The approach in context with FIG. 2 can thus forexample be used on top of IFOM.

The determination and selection may for example be done based oninformation by the user of the communication terminal. A user of acommunication terminal may for example provide

-   -   A set of IP addresses to be used simultaneously for the        provision of at least one service. For example, a user can        provide a number of IP addresses among which the network (SRV)        side selects the most appropriate ones for the multi-RAT        provision of a concerned service.    -   A list of ports which may be used in order to differentiate        between the various streams that need to be finally aggregated        to a single service in the target device (i.e. the communication        terminal).    -   Policies indicating preferred usage of specific RATs and the        preferred combination of RATs being operated simultaneously.    -   Mobility context information which may be exploited for        efficient RAT selection, e.g. in case of a high mobility        scenario no short range RAT (such as Bluetooth, WLAN, etc.) is        used but rather a wide area RAT (such as 3G, etc.).

For each communication connection of the set of communicationconnections, the characteristic is for example a priority of thecommunication connection.

For each communication connection of the set of communicationconnections, the characteristic is for example based on at least one ofa transmission quality via the communication connection, a bandwidth ofthe communication connection, a reliability of the communicationconnection and a cost of data transmission via the communicationconnection.

The communication controller may further include a transmitterconfigured to transmit an indication of the selected communicationconnections to the communication device, the other communication deviceor both. The transmitter may for example be the transmitter of acommunication device of which the communication controller is part.

The communication controller may be part of the communication device, ofthe other communication device or of a separate device (e.g. networkcomponent).

The communication device is for example a communication terminal and theother communication device is for example a component of the networkside of a communication system (e.g. a server).

For example, the communication device is a subscriber terminal of acellular radio communication network.

For example, the other communication device is a network component of acellular radio communication network.

For example, a network component provides a connection selection policy(i.e. rules to be considered for the decision making, i.e. theselection) and the mobile terminal (i.e. the communication terminal),including the communication controller in this example, selects theconnections to be used subject to the policy, e.g. with the objective tomaximize its own objectives. In this case, for example, the server sidedelivers the stream on the RATs imposed by the mobile device.

As another example, the communication terminal may communicatepreferences (priorities) for the communication connections and thenetwork side (or server side), comprising the communication controllerin this example, for example decides based on these preferences.

In a communication arrangement comprising a mobile device, a network(infrastructure) component and a service server (which can be part ofthe network infrastructure but can also be an independent server such asa Youtube server, etc.), the communication controller selecting thecommunication connections may for example be located in the mobiledevice and select the communication connections subject to a network(and possibly server) policy, in the network component (and possiblyselect the communication connections subject to mobile device prioritiesand/or server priorities and/or a server policy) or on the server sideand select the communication connections subject to mobile devicepriorities and/or a network policy.

It should be noted that the terminal may decide (i.e. the communicationcontroller may be part of the communication terminal) also in case thatthe communication connections are provided (at least partially) bymultiple operators. If the decision is performed on the network side, itmay be desirable that all communication connections are offered by thesame operator, which may be restrictive. For performing the decision onthe (content) server side the server needs to know, e.g., IPs, ports,the network status, policies and various other things which might bewished to be kept confidential between the operator and the clientdevice (i.e. the mobile terminal).

The communication controller may for example include a receiverconfigured to receive, for each communication connection, an indicationof the characteristic of the communication connection.

The communication connections are for example network layer connections.

For example, the communication connections are IP connections.

The transmission of data is for example transmission of a file.

For example, the controller is configured to initiate splitting of thefile in a part for each communication connection of the selectedcommunication connections and control the transmission to transmit thepart over the communication connection.

The controller is for example configured to initiate the splitting ofthe file at the network layer.

The communication connections of the set of communication connectionsare for example based on different radio access technologies.

In other words, the communication controller may select from variousradio technologies like WiFi, WiFi for TVWS (IEEE 802.11af), etc. Thecommunication controller may further include a receiver configured toreceive an indication of the set of communication connections.

The components of the communication controller (e.g. the determiner, theselector and the controller and the controller) as well as the variousentities described below may for example be implemented by one or morecircuits. A “circuit” may be understood as any kind of a logicimplementing entity, which may be special purpose circuitry or aprocessor executing software stored in a memory, firmware, or anycombination thereof. Thus a “circuit” may be a hard-wired logic circuitor a programmable logic circuit such as a programmable processor, e.g. amicroprocessor (e.g. a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) processoror a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processor). A “circuit” mayalso be a processor executing software, e.g. any kind of computerprogram, e.g. a computer program using a virtual machine code such ase.g. Java. Any other kind of implementation of the respective functionswhich will be described in more detail below may also be understood as a“circuit”.

The communication controller 200 for example carries out a method asillustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram 300.

The flow diagram 300 illustrates a method for transmitting data, forexample carried out by a communication controller.

In 301, the communication controller determines, for each communicationconnection of a set of communication connections between a communicationdevice and another communication device, a characteristic of thecommunication connection.

In 302, the communication controller selects a plurality of thecommunication connections based on the characteristics of thecommunication connections.

In 303 the communication controller controls a data transmission betweenthe communication device and the other communication device to use theselected plurality of communication connections.

It should be noted that examples given in context of the communicationcontroller 200 are analogously valid for the method illustrated in FIG.3 and vice versa.

The examples described in the following may provide the following incontext of the multicomm multi-link or multi-RAT approach as illustratedby the second communication system 102.

-   -   A guided mobile device centric decision making entity for        multi-RAT connection set-up and multi-RAT Handover.    -   A server centric decision making entity for multi-RAT connection        set-up and multi-RAT Handover.    -   Approaches to let the client (i.e. the mobile device) learn        about the available pieces that are transmitted by a multitude        of RATs, which ports to use etc.    -   An approach to handle private IP sub-nets as they are often used        by cellular operators, i.e. mobile devices usually do not have a        public IP address but only IP addresses of a private IP sub-net.

In the following, examples for a multicomm multi-link or multi-RAT asillustrated by the second communication system 102 are described.

The decision making mechanisms for the efficient selection of themulti-RAT radio links 107 to be operated simultaneously can for examplebe either done within the concerned mobile device 106 or in the server109 or another network component providing the concerned service (e.g.video streaming) These approaches are described in the following.

Mobile Device Centric Decision Making for Selected a Multitude ofHeterogeneous RATs to be Operated Simultaneously for Accessing a SingleService

In the case of mobile device centric decision making, a multi-linkmanagement entity is for example introduced on the network/server sidewhich serves for interactions with the concerned mobile device 106. Thisis illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 shows a communication arrangement 400.

The communication arrangement 400 includes IP networks 401 for examplecorresponding to the IP networks 108, a server 402 for examplecorresponding to the server 109 and a multi-link management entity 403.

The multi-link management entity 403 provides a first sub-entity 404 forinformation provision on available multi-link configurations, a secondsub-entity 402 for information provision on supported IP sub-nets and athird sub-entity 403 for buffering predefined mobile deviceconfigurations, e.g. to be changed via triggers.

The exclusion of a configuration can also be enforced for cost reasons.The notion of cost is dynamic, for example if the user pays a monthlysubscription for sending and receiving a fixed amount of data and whilethere are only two days remaining he has not used the service at all,the cost will be considered almost zero.

The interactions of the mobile device 106 with the multi-RAT managemententity 103 and the functionalities of the sub-entities 404, 405, 406 aredescribed in the following.

Sub-entity 404 for Information provision on available multi-linkconfigurations: For example, for using a service via multiple radiolinks 107 (or more generally multiple communication links) the mobiledevice 106 initially contacts the first sub-entity 404 for Informationprovision on available multi-link configurations. The first sub-entity404 for example gives (e.g. technology-independent) information on theavailable multi-link configurations possible. The first sub-entity 404for example feeds back information to the mobile device 106 indicatinghow many independent links can be operated for the concerned service.Also, information on the related user experience is for example given incase that the QoS (Quality of Service) of one of the links 107 isdegraded.

For example, the mobile device 106 requests a video streaming service.The video service is able to provide i) the full video stream over asingle communication link, ii) a base video stream including audio overone communication link and an incremental redundancy stream over asecond communication link and iii) the base video stream over onecommunication link, an incremental redundancy stream over a secondcommunication link and audio over a third communication link. In such acase, the second sub-entity 404 for example provides the information asshown in table 1a about the possible communication links.

TABLE 1a Information provided by the sub-entity for informationprovision on available multi-link configurations Configuration 1: Allvideo and audio data is transported One single over a single link. Ifthe link fails, the communication video/audio stream stops. linkConfiguration 2: Video (base stream) and audio data is Two transportedover one link, incremental communication redundancy video data istransported over a links operated second link. If the second linkbreaks, the simultaneously user suffers a reduction in QoS, but theVideo is not interrupted. If the first link fails, the video/audiostream stops. Configuration 3: Video (base stream) is transported overone Three link, incremental redundancy Video data is communicationtransported over a second link and audio links operated data istransported over a third link. simultaneously

This information may be used by the mobile device 106 in order toefficiently split the video stream over available radio accesstechnologies. In the example of “configuration 2” in table 2, the mobiledevice 106 for example uses a robust link for the video (base stream)and the audio data, such as a 3GPP LTE radio link or similar. Theincremental redundancy stream may be transported via a high-throughputbut less reliable communication link, e.g. a WLAN radio link. In casethat the WLAN link breaks, the user will still be able to enjoy thevideo/audio stream, however at a lower QoS.

Another example is the following: The mobile device 106 starts a WebBrowsing service. Usually there is a setting in the device's browserthat disables the automatic download of images and other bandwidthconsuming objects (“heavy” objects) in the web page, not only forspeeding up the browsing process, but for cost reasons as well. Insteadof this, the web browsing service is able to provide i) The full webpage data through a single link, with or without the “heavy” objects ii)The pure text of the web page is transported on one link and anycontained “heavy” objects are transported over a second link and iii)The pure text of the web page is transported on one link, any contained“heavy” objects with size up to a predefined threshold are transportedover a second link and any contained “heavy” objects with size above thepredefined threshold are transported over a third link. In such a case,the information provided by the first sub-entity 404 is for example asindicated in table 1b.

TABLE 1b Information provided by the sub-entity for informationprovision on available multi-link configurations Configuration 1: Allweb page data is transported over a One single link single link. If thelink fails, the web browsing stops. Configuration 2: The pure text ofthe web page is Two links transported over one link, any containedoperated “heavy” objects are transported over a simultaneously secondlink. If the second link breaks, the User suffers a reduction in hisexperience, but the browsing service is not interrupted. If the firstlink fails, the web browsing stops. Configuration 3: The pure text ofthe web page is Three links transported over one link, any containedoperated “heavy” objects with size up to a simultaneously predefinedthreshold are transported over a second link, any contained “heavy”objects with size above the predefined threshold are transported over athird link.

Again, this information may be used by the concerned mobile device 106in order to efficiently receive the various files over available RadioAccess Technologies. In the example of “Configuration 2”, the mobiledevice uses a very robust link for the core web page data, such as 3GPPLTE or similar. The images, flash animations or any other bandwidthconsuming objects that are also part of the web page may be transportedvia a high-throughput but less reliable link, e.g. WLAN. In case thatthe WLAN link breaks, the User will still be able to continue browsing,however at a lower level of experience, due to the missing data or theneed to explicitly request it over the first link.

A third example is the following: The mobile device 106 is running inthe background a service like an e-mail client, a service that does notrequire real time communication or immediate user interaction. Theservice is able to provide i) The full data through a single link ii)The headers and the pure text body of the e-mails are transported on onelink and any attached files are transported over a second link and iii)The headers and the pure text body of the e-mails are transported on onelink, any attached files with size up to a predefined threshold aretransported over a second link and any attached files with size abovethe predefined threshold are transported over a third link. In such acase, the information provided by the first sub-entity 404 is forexample as indicated in table 1c.

TABLE 1c Information provided by the sub-entity for informationprovision on available multi-link configurations Configuration 1: Alle-mail data is transported over a single One single link link. If thelink fails, the e-mail download stops. Configuration 2: The headers andthe pure text body of the Two links e-mails are transported over onelink, any operated attached files are transported over a secondsimultaneously link. If the second link breaks, the User suffers areduction in his experience, but the e-mail service is not interrupted.If the first link fails, the e-mail download stops. Configuration 3: Theheaders and the pure text body of the Three links e-mails aretransported over one link, any operated attached files with size up to apredefined simultaneously threshold are transported over a second link,any attached files with size above the predefined threshold aretransported over a third link.

Again, this information may be used by the concerned mobile device 106in order to efficiently receive the various files over available RadioAccess Technologies. In the example of “Configuration 2”, the mobiledevice 106 uses a very robust link for the body of the e-mail data, suchas 3GPP LTE or similar. The attachments may be transported via ahigh-throughput but less reliable link, e.g. WLAN. In case that the WLANlink breaks, the User will still be able to be informed about hise-mails, however at a lower level of experience, since he will not beable to access any attachments.

For an efficient communication of the information of table 1 from themulti-management link entity 403 to the mobile device 106 (i.e. withlow-signaling overhead) the multi-management link entity 403 may forexample only send link priorities to the mobile device 106. For example,the priorities as given in table 2 are provided.

TABLE 2 Efficient encoding of information provided by the firstsub-entity 404 Configuration 1: Link Priority: 1 One single Comment: Allvideo and audio data is communication transported over a single link. Ifthe link link fails, the video/audio stream stops. Configuration 2: LinkPriority, Link 1: 1 Two Link Priority, Link 2: 2 communication Comment:Video (base stream) and audio links operated data is transported overone link, simultaneously incremental redundancy video data istransported over a second link. If the second link breaks, the usersuffers a reduction in QoS, but the video is not interrupted. If thefirst link fails, the video/audio stream stops. Configuration 3: LinkPriority, Link 1: 2 Three Link Priority, Link 2: 3 communication LinkPriority, Link 3: 1 links operated Comment: video (base stream) issimultaneously transported over one link, incremental redundancy videodata is transported over a second link and audio data is transportedover a third link.

In the example of configuration 3, the audio stream is for exampleconsidered to be the stream requiring the highest protection level sinceeven in case that the video stream fails, the user will be able to enjoyAudio only. Therefore, the fact that the third radio link has thehighest priority in this example indicates that audio would betransmitted over link 3 according to configuration 3. Similarly, theinformation about the link priorities indicates that the incrementalredundancy video data (being the least important) would be transmittedover link 2 and that the video base layer would be transmitted over link1 according to configuration 3.

Sub-entity 405 for information provision on supported IP sub-nets: Manycellular operators do not provide public IP addresses to mobile devices.A mobile device may be part of a private IP sub-net within the operatornetwork. Such a configuration typically allows for a “pull” type ofinformation flow (i.e. the mobile device requests information from adistant server), but not for a “push” type of information flow (i.e. adevice external to the IP sub-net cannot directly address the concernedmobile device since the sub-net IP address of the mobile device is notavailable to external entities).

The second sub-entity 405 may for example provide a service to allowstreaming services into such a private IP sub-net as it is illustratedin FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 shows a communication arrangement 500.

The communication arrangement includes the Internet 501 and a private IPsub-net (e.g. a sub-net of an operator of a radio communication networkproviding one of the radio links 107) 502. The Internet 501 and theprivate IP sub-net 502 for example correspond to the IP networks 108,wherein in this example the mobile device 106 accesses the Internet 501via the private IP sub-net 502. The communication arrangement 500further includes a server 503 connected to the Internet for examplecorresponding to the server 109 and the server 402. The private IPsub-net 502 is connected to the Internet 501 via a gateway 504 which maybe accessed by a public IP address from the Internet side.

The communication arrangement includes a service for accessing theprivate sub-net 502.

This service eliminates the need for using protocols like STUN (SessionTraversal Utilities for NAT), since the operator is fully aware of theapplied network settings. Instead of communicating with a public STUNserver in order to determine its external IP and port, the mobile device106 may inform this “Operator Service” (i.e. a corresponding entityproviding this service such as the gateway 504) that it needs to receivean incoming data stream from an external device, providing specificdetails on the IP and the port of that device, as well as its own portwhere it expects the communication. If the entity providing the“Operator Service” accepts the mobile device's request, it sends backinformation on the public IP and port that have to be reported to theexternal device to establish the communication and makes the necessaryarrangements to the network routing and protection service. Then themobile device requests the data stream from the external device (i.e.the server 503 in this example) and when the incoming stream arrives itis recognized and it is routed (e.g. by the gateway 504) to the correctinternal IP and port, namely the one of the mobile device.

It should be noted that radio network operators typically do not use asingle private IP sub-net but multiple ones. This means that two mobiledevices connecting via 3GPP UMTS/LTE/etc. are not necessarily in thesame private IP sub-net, but most likely in independent ones. In such acase, the mobile devices can not directly route traffic from one toanother.

The gateway 504 provides a service for accessing the private sub-net502. The mobile device 106 for example communicates with the secondsub-entity 402 in the context of the operator service provide by thegateway 504 as follows.

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram 600.

In 601, the mobile device 106 contacts the second sub-entity 404. Themobile device provides an indication on the target geographic area whereit wants to use the service provided by the server 503 (e.g., Germany,US, etc.) and/or a selection of the relevant operator (e.g., T-MobileGermany, Vodaphone Germany, etc.) providing communication links in thetarget geographic area.

In 602, The second sub-entity 404 provides a list of supported operatorswhich provide services for routing into their private IP sub-nets orwhich provide open access (e.g., via public IP addresses granted to eachmobile device). If required, the second sub-entity 404 communicates theinformation required by the operator service (e.g. required by thegateway 504) in order to access the concerned private IP sub-nets (e.g.,a mobile device ID, the sub-net IP address of the concerned IP address,etc.).

In 603, the mobile device 106 provides the sub-entity “Informationprovision on supported IP sub-nets” with the required information foraccessing the private IP sub-nets maintained by the concerned operator(e.g. the IP sub-net 502). If the mobile device 106 chooses not toprovide the required access parameters for all/some operators, thecorresponding sub-net cannot be accessed and the corresponding link(s)(i.e. the communication links using this sub-net) cannot be used.

Sub-entity 406 for buffering predefined mobile device configurations:

The third sub-entity 406 stores a plurality of pre-definedconfigurations for transmitting data to the mobile device 106.

For example, the mobile device 106 indicates a number of sets of IPaddresses (or details on private IP sub-nets if required) to the thirdsub-entity 406 which may be used for the service provided by the server109, e.g. to transmit data to the mobile device 106. In other words, apre-defined configuration may correspond to a set of IP addresses of themobile device 106 corresponding to IP connections to be used fortransmitting data to the mobile device 106 according to thisconfiguration.

In case that a handover needs to be performed the following may becarried out:

-   -   The mobile device 106 triggers to change to another one of the        pre-defined configurations or    -   The network/server (i.e. the server 109 or another, e.g.        intermediate, network component handling data transmission to        the mobile device 106) is allowed to autonomously select one of        the pre-defined configurations.    -   In case that no trigger from the mobile device 106 arrives at        the network component/server within a given time-frame, the        network component/server is allowed to autonomously select one        of the pre-defined configurations.

As an example corresponding to the example of table 2, the pre-definedsets of IP addresses provided by the mobile device 106 is for examplecommunicated in a format as by table 3.

TABLE 3 Example of pre-defined sets of links provided by the mobiledevice Configuration 1: Predefined link set 1: IP address “IP-A1” Onesingle link (within a private sub-net of Operator “xyz”, corresponds forexample to 3GPP LTE) Predefined link set 2: IP address “IP-A2” (publicIP address, corresponds for example to WLAN) Predefined link set 3: IPaddress “IP-A3” (public IP address, corresponds for example to IEEE802.11af, i.e. WIFI for TVWS) Comment: All video and audio data istransported over a single link. If the link fails, the video/audiostream stops. Configuration 2: Predefined link set 1: IP address “IP-B1”Two links for Link 1 (within a private sub-net of operated Operator“xyz”, corresponds for example simultaneously to 3GPP LTE), IP address“IP-B2” for Link 2 (corresponds for example to WLAN), Predefined linkset 1: IP address “IP-B3” for Link 1 (within a private sub-net ofOperator “xyz”, corresponds for example to 3GPP LTE), IP address “IP-B4”for Link 2 (corresponds for example to IEEE 802.11af, i.e. WiFi forTVWS) Comment: Video (base stream) and audio data is transported overone link, incremental redundancy video data is transported over a secondlink. If the second link breaks, the user suffers a reduction in QoS,but the video is not interrupted. If the first link fails, thevideo/audio stream stops. Configuration 3: Predefined link set 1: IPaddress “IP-C1” Three links for Link 3 (within a private sub-net ofoperated Operator “xyz”, corresponds for example simultaneously to 3GPPLTE), IP address “IP-C2” for Link 1 (corresponds for example to WLAN),“IP-C3” for Link 2 (corresponds for example to IEEE 802.11af, i.e. WiFifor TVWS) Comment: Video (base stream) is transported over one link,incremental redundancy video data is transported over a second link andaudio data is transported over a third link.

By providing the sets of IP addresses, e.g. as in table 3, the mobiledevice 106 can also take hardware constraints into account. For example,the simultaneous operation of some RATs may not be possible in a mobiledevice 106. Those configurations can be excluded by the mobile device106 when communicating the sets of IP addresses to the third sub-entity406.

Based on the sub-entities 404, 405, 406 the set-up and management of amulti-RAT based service access with mobile device centric decisionmaking is for example performed as illustrated in FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram 700.

In 701, the mobile device 106 interacts with the first sub-entity 404 inorder to obtain information on available multi-link configurations.

In 702, the mobile device 106 interacts with the second sub-entity 405.Information on available operators' networks in a given geographic areais exchanged. Information for accessing the concerned private IPsub-nets of operators is given by the mobile device 106 if theinformation is available.

In 703, the mobile device 106 interacts with the third sub-entity 406.In particular, the mobile device 106 communicates sets of pre-definedlink configurations. One of those sets is chosen for an initialconfiguration.

In 704, the server 109 provides the service to the mobile device 106.

In 705, the mobile device 106 (or another entity) checks whether the QoSat which the service is provided is sufficient. If yes, the server 109continues to provide the service in 704. For example, 705 is carried outperiodically.

If the QoS at which the service is provided is not sufficient, themobile device 106, in 706, interacts with the third sub-entity 406 inorder to change the current configuration. Alternatively, thenetwork/server has the authority to perform the configuration changeautonomously, or after a certain period during which no trigger from theconcerned mobile device 106 arrives. The server 109 then continues toprovide the service with the changed configuration in 704

Network/Server Centric Decision Making for Selected a Multitude ofHeterogeneous RATs to be Operated Simultaneously for Accessing a SingleService

For network/server centric decision making a multi-link managemententity 403 may also be introduced as described above for mobile devicecentric decision making. For network/server centric decision making, thefunctionalities of the sub-entities 404, 405, 406 are for exampleadapted as follows.

Sub-entity 404 for Information provision on available multi-linkconfigurations: The first sub-entity 404 on the network side stores alist of feasible configurations, e.g. indicating how many independentlinks can be supported for providing the concerned service requested bythe mobile device 106 from the server 109. The mobile device 106 canrequest this information but does not have to since the final decisionon the link selection is taken on the network/server side. However, theinformation may be used by the mobile device in order to only deliverthe link information to the network/server that finally lead to feasibleconfigurations. Also, it helps the mobile device 106 (or its user) tobetter understand the behavior of the network/server centric decisionmaking processes in case that the current link situation makes the QoSdrop and a reconfiguration is required.

Sub-entity 405 for information provision on supported IP sub-nets: Thesecond sub-entity 405 is used by the network/server in order to identifythe feasible connections through private IP sub-nets. The network/serverrequests location information from the mobile device 106 or take theinformation from the network (for example, information on a base stationlocation may be sufficient if the mobile device 106 is connected to thisbase station). Then, the network/server requests corresponding accessinformation from the mobile device 106. This information can be expectedto be required by the relevant operators in order to grant access to theconcerned private IP sub-nets.

Sub-entity 406 for buffering predefined mobile device configurations:The third sub-entity 406 is for example used in case that the mobiledevice 106 (or its user) prefers to communicate preferred multi-RAT linkconfigurations in case of a link reconfiguration. The triggers for areconfiguration change are however for example initiated by thenetwork/server and communicated to the mobile device 106, forcing areconfiguration.

Based on the sub-entities 404, 405, 406 the set-up and management of amulti-RAT based service access with network/server centric decisionmaking is for example performed as illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram 800.

In 801, the mobile device 106 optionally interacts with the firstsub-entity 404 in order to obtain information on available multi-linkconfigurations.

In 802, the mobile device 106 interacts with the second sub-entity 405.This interaction is for example triggered by the network/server. Forexample, information on available operators' networks in a givengeographic area is exchanged. The location of the mobile device 106 isfor example either detected by the network, i.e. by a component of thenetwork side, for example by identifying a specific cell to which themobile device 106 is attached, or requested to be provided by the mobiledevice 106. Information for accessing the concerned private IP sub-netsof operators are given by the mobile device 106 if the information isavailable.

In 803, the mobile device 106 optionally interacts with the thirdsub-entity 406. For example, the mobile device 106 may communicate setsof pre-defined link configurations. The network/server chooses aninitial configuration, e.g. taken from one of the provided sets.

In 804, the server 109 provides the service to the mobile device 106.

In 805, the mobile device 106 (or another entity) checks whether the QoSat which the service is provided is sufficient. If yes, the server 109continues to provide the service in 804. For example, 805 is carried outperiodically.

If the QoS at which the service is provided is not sufficient, the thirdsub-entity 406 sends triggers to the mobile device 106 in order tochange the current configuration and the server 109 continues to providethe service with the changed configuration in 804.

In the following, it is discussed how the mobile device 106 may learnhow to receive the various desired parts of the data provided by theserver 109, e.g. which parts of the data are sent via which radio link.

It is assumed that the splitting of the data provided by the server 109(e.g. a multimedia resource) that the client has requested has alreadybeen done on the network/server side. The issue after the splitting ishow the client (i.e. the mobile device 106) learns about how to receivethe desired pieces of the data.

The network/server for example communicates to the mobile device 106 thecharacteristics of each part of the data, as well as for example, foreach part of the data, the IP address/port by means of which the part ofthe data is communicated. At this point the client may inform thenetwork/server about the existence of its other interfaces (i.e.supported communication links) as well (e.g. indicating their publicaddresses). In that case the network/server may send back information onalternative IP/ports where the same resource pieces are available, i.e.by means of which the part of the data is communicated. Some of thesealternative communication links may for example use the same subnet asthe mobile device 106. Identifying subnets is of course also an issue,but it can be done based on the public IP.

For the identifying the pieces of interest (i.e. parts of the data) tothe client (e.g. just the base quality stream of an Audio Stream, notthe incremental redundancy streams, etc.) the protocol as illustrated inFIG. 9 is for example used.

FIG. 9 shows a message flow diagram 900.

The message flow takes place between a client 901, e.g. corresponding tothe mobile device 106 and the network or server (e.g. a plurality ofnetwork components, e.g. including the server 109 and the multi-linkmanagement entity 403 or any of its sub-entities 404, 405, 406 or anyother network component, e.g. an intermediate network component handlingthe data transfer between the server 109 and the mobile device 106).

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 show examples for the messages exchanged accordingto the message flow diagram 900.

In 903, the client 901 transmits a first message 904 to thenetwork/server, e.g. to a network entity, for example, the firstsub-entity 404.

The first message 904 is a resource/service request which for examplerelates to

-   -   A service to be provided, e.g. video streaming, VoIP        communication, gaming, etc. The first message 904 can include a        service quality level, e.g. a video quality levels, etc.    -   A resource request, e.g. indicating the communication parameter        (minimum) requirements such as i) data bandwidth, ii)        latency, iii) jitter, iv) packet loss probability, etc.    -   Client context information can be provided to the network/server        902 in order to support it in the RAT selection process. This        context information can also be used in order to request a        specific set of RATs.

An example for the first message 904 is the message 1001 shown in FIG.10.

In 905, the network/server 902 informs the client 901 about theavailable pieces of data and the characteristics of each piece of datawith a second message 906.

An example for the second message 906 is the message 1002 shown in FIG.10.

In 907, the client 901 informs the network/server 902 by means of athird message 908 about the pieces of interest for the client 901 andgives, for each piece of interest (e.g. audio, base layer of a video,enhancement layer of a video), a public IP address by means of which thepiece of interest can be transmitted to the client 901.

An example for the third message 908 is the message 1003 shown in FIG.10.

In 909, the network/server 902 informs the client 901 about the IPaddresses and ports used for transmitting the pieces of interest bymeans of a fourth message 910. The network/server 902 may haveidentified that an interface of the client 901 and a resource point areon the same subnet (e.g. both have public Ws known to belong to the same3G Operator). In that case the server could send to the client the localIP/port of the resource point as well, resolving connectivity issuesbecause of firewalls and NATs.

An example for the fourth message 910 is the message 1101 shown in FIG.11.

In 911, the client requests to start transmission of the pieces ofinterest using a specific IP address and port per piece by sending afifth message 912 to the network/server 902. The transmission may thusbe controlled by the client, i.e. the server has sent all the necessaryinformation and the client decides which pieces of data should becommunicated over which communication link. In response of the request,the network/server 902 starts providing the requested data to the client901.

An example for the fifth message 912 is the message 1102 shown in FIG.11.

In this example, the client 901 changes the client context in 913 bymeans of a sixth message 914.

Such a client context change may trigger the re-negotiation of theservice parameters, i.e. a change of the communication links used(including e.g. a change of the IP addresses and ports used). Some orall of 903, 905, 907, 911 may be carried out perform this adaptation ofthe service parameters.

An example for the sixth message 914 is the message 1103 shown in FIG.11.

It should be noted that the pieces of data or parts of the data that themobile device 106 requests and that are provided according to theservice provided by the server 109 are not necessarily sub-streams of astream (e.g. an audio stream or a base layer or an enhancement layer ofa video stream). In contrast, the server 109 may for example provide afile and the parts of the data are parts of the file.

Further, the splitting of a file or stream may happen at a lower layersthan the application layer (e.g. at a lower layer than the layer of thecodec as in case of the parts of data being an audio stream and a baselayer and an enhancement layer of a video stream). For example, anentity at the network layer may receive a file or stream and separatesit into sub-files or sub-stream, e.g. cyclically distributes consecutiveparts (e.g. parts of data corresponding to one or more frames) to thedifferent communication links to be used for the transmission.

FIG. 12 shows an example for a web-Interface for adding a number of IPlinks to be used simultaneously in order to provide a single servicewhich is split over a number of independent communication links.

In this example, the user may enter an IP address in a first IP addressfield 1201 corresponding to a first communication link over which audiodata is to be transmitted to the client 106.

In a second IP address field 1202, the user may enter an IP addresscorresponding to a second communication link over which video data is tobe transmitted to the client 106.

By means of a web interface as for example shown in FIG. 12, a user of aweb-based service, in this example video streaming, may enter a numberof IP addresses to be used simultaneously for an efficient split of theservice.

While specific aspects have been described, it should be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the aspectsof this disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The scope is thusindicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within themeaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended tobe embraced.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication controller comprising: adeterminer configured to determine, for each communication connection ofa set of communication connections between a communication device andanother communication device, a characteristic of the communicationconnection; a selector configured to select a plurality of thecommunication connections based on the characteristics of thecommunication connections; and a controller configured to control atransmission of data between the communication device and the othercommunication device to use the selected plurality of communicationconnections.
 2. Communication controller according to claim 1, wherein,for each communication connection of the set of communicationconnections, the characteristic is a priority of the communicationconnection.
 3. Communication controller according to claim 1, wherein,for each communication connection of the set of communicationconnections, the characteristic is based on at least one of atransmission quality via the communication connection, a bandwidth ofthe communication connection, a reliability of the communicationconnection and a cost of data transmission via the communicationconnection.
 4. Communication controller according to claim 1, furthercomprising a transmitter configured to transmit an indication of theselected communication connections to the communication device, theother communication device or both.
 5. Communication controlleraccording to claim 1, wherein the communication device is acommunication terminal and the other communication device is a componentof the network side of a communication system.
 6. Communicationcontroller according to claim 5, wherein the communication device is asubscriber terminal of a cellular radio communication network. 7.Communication controller according to claim 5, wherein the othercommunication device is a network component of a cellular radiocommunication network.
 8. Communication controller according to claim 1,wherein the communication controller comprises a receiver configured toreceive, for each communication connection, an indication of thecharacteristic of the communication connection.
 9. Communicationcontroller according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is acommunication terminal located in an IP subnet and the communicationcontroller is configured to determine, for each of the selectedcommunication connections, a port and an IP address for reaching thecommunication terminal via the communication connection. 10.Communication controller according to claim 9, further comprising areceiver configured to receive, for each of the selected communicationconnections, a port and an IP address for reaching the communicationterminal via the communication connection from the communicationterminal.
 11. Communication controller according to claim 1, wherein thecommunication connections are network layer connections. 12.Communication controller according to claim 1, wherein the communicationconnections are IP connections.
 13. Communication controller accordingto claim 1, wherein the transmission of data is transmission of a file.14. Communication controller according to claim 13, wherein thecontroller is configured to initiate splitting of the file in a part foreach communication connection of the selected communication connectionsand control the transmission to transmit the part over the communicationconnection.
 15. Communication controller according to claim 14, whereinthe controller is configured to initiate the splitting of the file atthe network layer.
 16. Communication controller according to claim 1,wherein the communication connections of the set of communicationconnections are based on different radio access technologies. 17.Communication controller according to claim 1, further comprising areceiver configured to receive an indication of the set of communicationconnections.
 18. Communication controller according to claim 1, whereinthe indication of the set of communication connection is a set of IPaddresses.
 19. Communication controller according to claim 1, whereinthe communication controller is part of the communication device, of thefurther communication device or of a separate device.
 20. A method fortransmitting data comprising: determining, for each communicationconnection of a set of communication connections between a communicationdevice and another communication device, a characteristic of thecommunication connection; selecting a plurality of the communicationconnections based on the characteristics of the communicationconnections; and control transmission of data between the communicationdevice and the other communication device to use the selected pluralityof communication connections.
 21. The method according to claim 20,further comprising transmitting an indication of the selectedcommunication connections to the other communication device.
 22. Themethod according to claim 20, further comprising receiving an indicationof the set of communication connections.